Kourkoubinia - Little fried rolled bites with phyllo pastry

What this could be now?? Hmm-it is a syrupy dessert, very tasty and very crunchy and you can never have just one! Kourkoubinia (always referred to in the plural) are phyllo pastry bites, with no filling, first deep fried and then dipped in syrup or honey and they are made of very thin phyllo sheets. They used to be my father's favourite syrup dessert and he always praised his mother's recipe- the "one she brought with her from Smyrna"...which unfortunately none of us now has it... They are a bit tricky regarding the shape they have but if you decide to try them out you won't regret it

Ingredients (for 6-8 people):
750gr. phyllo pastry
200gr. all purpose flour

For the syrup:
1,5Kg of sugar
2 liters of water
200gr. liquid glucose (it helps the syrup not to crystalise) (if you prefer substitude with honey)
½ tea-cup of lemon juice

Method:
Prepare the syrup first so to have the chance to cool down completely before you use it.

Put in a saucepan the water, the sugar and the glucose and let them come to the boil in low heat. When the syrup starts bubbling add the lemon juice, stir and let it simmer long enough until it is done. We need a rather well set syrup and not a runny one.

***For better results it would be better if a thin and long (metal or wooden) skewer is used for the rolling of the phyllo sheets. If you don't have any then make sure you roll the phyllo sheets very carefully and tightly.

On a clean work surface dust with some flour and the rest put it in a shallow pan.

Get the phyllo sheets one by one and starting from the shorter side turn them tightly around the metal skewer making a roll (with many layers).

Push the phyllo downwards off the skewer, as we do when we take off the meat off a kebab. The phyllo then will be pleated. Pass it through the flour to get well coated in all its length. Repeat the same procedure with the rest of the phyllo sheets and leave them covered by the flour in the pan.

Then get each pastry roll and using a sharp knife cut them into smaller pieces, about 2 cm long each. Put them in a large sieve and shake a few times so to discard the excess flour off them.

In a deep frying pan put enough oil to cover the kourkoubinia while they are frying. Let the oil warm well and then start putting in the kourkoubinia in batches. With a slotted spoon turn them around in the pan and fry until they are golden brown.

When the kourkoubinia are ready, take them out of the pan and let them dry well on kitchen paper. While they are still hot, dip them into the cold syrup and let them soak in it for about 1 hour.

Transfer on a large serving plate and sprinkle on top with cinnamon powder or sesame or finely chopped walnuts.